Groups target risk of oil spills in Hudson River

Crude oil trains rolling through the Hudson Valley are a potent worry of environmentalists who have dedicated decades to the health of the Hudson River.

James Walsh

Crude oil trains rolling through the Hudson Valley are a potent worry of environmentalists who have dedicated decades to the health of the Hudson River.

In some cases, the trains travel within feet of the waterway on track winding beneath structures including the Walkway Over the Hudson and the Mid-Hudson Bridge between Highland and Poughkeepsie.

Fiery explosions from derailed oil trains in the Midwest and Canada — 47 people died in July when a train hauling Bakken crude oil derailed and blew up in Quebec — add to the worry about trains traversing populated areas like Saugerties, Kingston, Newburgh and New Windsor.

Companies have the state's approval to haul nearly 3 billion gallons of oil per year to the Port of Albany, where it's loaded onto barges and ships for transport down river, or continues by rail through the mid-Hudson and beyond.

"This is a mid-Hudson issue," said Kate Hudson, watershed program director for Riverkeeper. "This oil is coming through our communities today."

Hudson emphasized the word "today" during a recent interview. She and representatives of other environmental groups were disappointed that in January Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also harboring safety concerns, ordered a 90-day state review of the shipments and the emergency responses in place. There seemed to be little need for a review, from their perspective, considering the path of oil trains comprised of as many as 100 tanker cars, each capable of holding 700 gallons of crude.

"All it takes is one spill to wipe off the board all the progress we've made," said Chris Amato, attorney for Earthjustice.